Plans in motion to create Russia's first footy club

A small group of enthusiasts are hoping to found Russia's first footy club, based in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. The current project is led by Paul Kube, who first came to Krasnoyarsk in 2007, but on that occasion was only in Russia for a year and wasn't able to get footy going beyond some kick-to-kick.

Since returning to Russia last year, he's been more successful. "We returned as a family in May of 2010, but spent the Summer settling in, and since we didn't know many people I did not start anything then either."

"But this year is the beginning of something. I have been running very informal clinics for about a month now. This has mostly been with locals and neighbours at the school soccer field. I have just persisted in inviting people every week and the numbers are slowly growing."

Kube's fledgling squad held their first training match last weekend. Although there was only a small number of players in attendance, the experience of getting a game underway has seen the members keen to grow their numbers and get some regular games happening in future. "It's still very early days here, and we will have to see if it takes off," Kube says.

For anyone who reads Russian, Paul received a write-up on a local blog here.

Just got an email saying that a group are starting up in Moscow as well. They'll hold their first training sessions in June, and are hoping to be able to take a Russian team to Belfast for the Euro Cup.

Pretty positive all round, with a bit of luck we could see Poland, Russia, Portugal and Norway all make their Euro Cup debut this year.

I had to get the atlas out to see where Krasnoyarsk is and it does look about half way between Moscow and Beijing so I would guess away games would probably a fair way off just yet.

By the way, I did have a look at the climate for that part of Russia and they do say that for about 110 days a year the temp actually gets above 10 degrees, so I hope there are plenty of brass monkeys about. I'm feeling cold just thinking & writing about it.

Best of luck to Paul and to Roger in Moscow with your efforts to get footy going in Russia.

I think it's actually a bit closer to Beijing than it is to Moscow, though we're still talking 2,500km vs 3,500km. Paul did mention that they'd be interested in hosting clubs like the Beijing Bombers for tournaments, as there are direct flights to there from Beijing.

Regards climate, the average high in summer is in the 20s, but the average low in winter is somewhere around -20. Apparently the further you get from the ocean, the bigger the extremes get.

At the moment, they've got the basis for three local teams in Krasnoyarsk, which would be Akadem (the suburb where they're located), Polytekhnik (a local uni) and Gorod (city).

Three teams mean at least you can play on a "regular" basis and not be playing against the same team every week and it seems that when that happens the new 'league' can consolidate and grow. I wish them all the best and hope that we might see a couple of Ruskies appearing in the World XVIII in a few years time.

Mind you it might get above 20 degrees but it still doesn't get above 10 degrees for over 220 days in the year, that is bloody brass monkey weather for too long for from where I come. BRRRRRRRR :-)

In terms of country capitals, they're closer to Ulaanbataar in Mongolia. Alas there is no footy there, although I was tempted to try to talk to officials there when I visited on holiday. They have a liking for what we would call quirky sports and footy might well fit in with their sense of warrior tradition. There were signs of a mining boom starting (but then that is true most places), so I could imagine a few Aussies might end up there (although they are in high demand in Australia these days with booms in WA and QLD and allegedly SA).

Great to see Russia starting up with footy, long overdue. Footy has been creeping east in Europe, but this is a giant leap.

Can any of those guys tell us how much it might cost them to travel from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk for an occasional match? I imagine it would be flying, train would take a few days.

We talked about that as well - the average professional salary in Krasnoyarsk is about $1000 a month, plus most of their guys are currently students. So would be difficult to afford travel. But they're keen to host other clubs who want to make the trip.

Apparently people in Moscow earn a bit more on average, so they might be more of a chance to make it to the Euro Cup or be able to come to Krasnoyarsk for a tournament.